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Stansted Flights Hit By Controllers Strike

Thousands of people flying abroad are facing travel chaos, with Stansted among airports affected, due to a strike by French air traffic controllers.

Meanwhile, passengers heading to Stansted airport by rail were being delayed after a person was hit by a train between Bishop's Stortford and Stansted Mountfitchet.

UK and Irish airlines have had to cut scores of flights while others are being disrupted, with the delays and cancellations affecting not only services to and from France but also flights to other parts of Europe.

Ryanair cancelled 250 flights, with the airports affected including Stansted along with Luton, Birmingham, Leeds Bradford, East Midlands and Dublin.

Among the destinations on Ryanair's cancelled list are Alicante and Malaga in Spain and Marrakech in Morocco.

EasyJet has cancelled 118 flights. Most of the axed services involve flights within France - but the scrapped services do include return flights to Paris from Gatwick, Belfast and Luton, as well as a Gatwick-Toulouse return service.

EasyJet said: "We can assure our passengers we are doing everything possible to limit the inconvenience of this strike on them."

"Unfortunately there will be some knock-on delays to other parts of our short-haul network as a result of the strike action, given how much airspace in Europe will be affected. We are sorry for any disruption to customers' travel plans.''